The Hole Is Too Deep

Most people just want to perform good deeds to make merit, but they don't want to give up wrongdoing. It's just that "the hole is too deep."

Suppose there was a hole and there was something at the bottom of it. Now anyone who put his hand into the hole and didn't reach the bottom would say the hole was too deep. If a hundred or a thousand people put their hands down the hole, they'd all say, "The hole is too deep!" No one would say that his arm was too short.

We have to come back to ourselves. We have to take a step back and look at ourselves. Don't blame the hole for being too deep. Turn around and look at your own arm. If you can see this, then you will make progress on the spiritual path and will find happiness.


* * * * *


Oil and water are different in the same way that a wise man and an ignorant man are different.

The Buddha lived with form, sound, odor, taste, touch and thought, but he was an arahant so he was able to turn away from them rather than toward them. He turned away and let go little by little, since he understood that the heart is just the heart and thought is just thought. He didn't confuse them and mix them together like an ignorant man does.

The heart is just the heart. Thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings.

Let things be as they are. Let form be just form, let sound be just sound, let thought be just thought.

Why should we bother to attach to them?

If we feel and think in this way, then there is detachment and separateness. Our thoughts and feelings will be on one side and our heart will be on the other.

Just like oil and water - they are in the same bottle but they are separate.


* * * * *


Right now we are sitting in a peaceful forest.

Here, if there's no wind, the leaves remain still. When a wind blows, they flap and flutter.

The mind is the same. When it contacts a mental impression, it, too, flaps and flutters. According to the nature of that mental impression.

And the less we know of Dhamma, the more the mind will continually pursue mental impressions.

Feeling happy, it succumbs to happiness. Feeling suffering, it succumbs to suffering. It's in a constant flap.


* * * * *


Don't be angry with those who don't practice.

Don't speak against them. Just continually advise them. They will come to the Dhamma when their spiritual factors are developed.

It's like selling medicines. We advertise our medicines and those with a headache or stomachache will come and take some. Those who don't want our medicines let them be.

They're like fruit that are still green. We can't force them to be ripe and sweet — just let them be. Let them grow up, sweeten and ripen all by themselves.

If we think like this, our minds will be at ease. So we don't need to force anybody. Simply advertise our medicines and leave it at that. When someone is ill, he'll come around and buy some.


Extract from: A Tree in a Forest, by Venerable Ajahn Chah